Regainer for water-power plants.



W. M. WHHE.

www?. Hm WATER Powie PLANTS.

11110111011 Apr. i211, 11,111".

E SHEETS-SHEET il W. M. WHHF.

EEG/m59 ifm: WATER www PL/ms.

APPLICATION FILED F1AY25,l93. RENMVED JAN, 25, 191].

3 SHEETS--SHEET 2.

W. M. WHZTE.

` REGMNER FOR WMER PUW APPLICAHGN man MAY ze. m3.

EH PLANTS.

HENEWED MN.

1 alms@ Apr. 31, 1917.

3 wamsifiuirED srATEe PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM WHTE, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

REGAINER FOR WATER-POWER PLANTS.

Application led May 26, 191.3, Serial No. 769,790.

To ald whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, W'ILLIAM M. Wru'rr., e citizen of the United States,and resident of' Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and Stute ofWisconsin, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in liegainers for Vaterlower-Pla.nts, oil' which the following ie asp'lcilieeti-on.

My invention rel-ite to the water paseagos leading from hydraulicturbinesund niore particularly to the substitution oi regaincrs for thedraft tubes ordinarily used with water wheels. l

This inventicui of the type disclosed .in my copehding application,Serial No. 769,791, filed May S, 1h13. The aforesaid application 'coversbroadly 4the provision of wallie` defining a space Aof progressivelyincreasing' cf-.pacity from the water wheel .runner outward, whereby thevelocityT head. of the Water may be trans formed into pressure head withgreatest efii .ciency. The present construction. 1s a vrnore specificform of that device. In my applicatlon, Serial No. 774,528, .l havedisclosed and claimed broadly a method 'of operating lwater wheels'which might be'carried out in constructions such as disclosed herein.The method 'contemplates certain steps wherein the effective head actingupon e water wheel l' inlay be increased7 thereby increasing theIfeiiciency of thewater-wheel'with e slight decrease in plantefiioieucyj.3 this-being se f cured by -passinganf anount of 4water`lthrf'nugh the `wheel in excess! of that re uired formaximume'ciencyfand utiliiing t e increased 'discharge -velocity of 'the water.""thereby produced toA prbvide .an effective head greaterthan theeffective head of said maximum efficiency.

In usual practice the draft tubes from Water wheels are in the form' ofcircular conduits Itapered from. o ne diameter at the runner of thewater wheel tofa larger diameter at the end of the draft tube,' thewater being discharged Vin the direction of its flow to and down thetail race.

On account 'of the short distance between the horizontal center lineofthe water wheel and the. top of the water in the 'tail race, there is4not sufficient room toconstruct the present form of draftiubes shapefor greatesteiiciency. V y F5,

This invention contemplates tht/.substitution of regeinersvto take theplace of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 24, 191'?.

Renewed January 25, 1917, serial No. 144,547.

4stream from the runners as to deflect the water and discharge it alonga passage of increasing arca., the passage being arranged symmetricallyabout the center line of the runner. By this means the energy in thewhirling water from the runner is utilized.

To one skilled in the nrt it is known that the power developed in arunner has un inconstant relation to the flow from the run- This isparticularly true when. the turbine is operating at other than the loadand speed for which it was designed. It is well irnmvn that. 'theeiiciency of a turbine de creases rather rapiiiy from one maximum point.This rnaxinmrn eilicicncy point usu elly occurs nt from thieo-fourths toseven-` eighths full loud. The loss in efficiency is. due in a largepart vto the energy absorbed in discharging the Water from the runner.The quantity of water used by a turbine is regulated by movable guidesor gates, the runner consisting of vanos so disposed as tohave curveddischarge passages therethrough'. The direction of these passages isopposite to that of the direction of the ro* tation of the runner.VVhen'the turbine is operating at a point somewhere betweenthree-fourths and. seven-eighths load, there then exists a relationbetween the openings between the guides and the passages between therunner venes, so that the water discharged from the runner vanes haspractically no Whirl. 'For a larger openingbetween the guidesrthepressure between the runner vanos is greater whereby Water is forcedbetween the venes of the runner at a higher velocity.v The rotation ofthe runner remaining the same. there is a whirl in the discharge wateror. a motion opposite to the direction of rotation of the runner.Likewise when the guides are closed to pro-- vide an opening less thannormal, the pressure between. the runner vanos is low and as thevelocity of the Water through the runner vanes is consequently low, itsbackwerd speed is not equal to thatl of the for- -werd motion of therunner which produces a whirll in the water inthe direction of therotation of the runner. water from tlierunner Vfor any condition exceptatthe most efficient point, has a downward and whirling direction andhas com siderable absolute velocity with consequent le. Consequentlythe" y considerable kinetic energy. ThiS.-kineti c I'energy-in the.water as it leaveshtlie grunge; j

when the turbine is operating at part loads may be considerably greaterthan it is when the turbine is operating at its most efficient load. Theopenings between the vanes of Ithe' runner are so disposed that part ofthe water containing considerable kinetic en-' ergy come in contactsuddenly and sharply with those particles containing. a low amount ofkinetic energy with the result that the kinetic energy is lost infriction, eddies and whirls. At low loads the water in the center of thetube. flows up and ap-. parently backward through the runner vanes nearthe periphery of the runner. The runner must set this water in motionfrom the center to the periphery with outlay of energy, which energymust be supplied. in the form of new water from the head race withoutany production of useful power, so that the efficiency of the turbineunit is low.

This invention contemplates the installation of regainers in multiplewhereby t0 take the water from the runner in different eX- pendingpassages.V By' discharging the water from the outer periphery of therunner through an independent passage I am enabled to avoid mixingstream Hows of large kinetic ,energy with stream flows of small kineticenergy and regain that kinetic energy with maximum efiiciency. Bly designing the various regainers used in the multiple so that eachJrega'iner returns the greatest amount of energy from the water flowingfrom that section of the runner I obtain, in the aggregate, highereiciency from the runner at all loads than it is possible to obtain withthe usual form of draft tube. The runner itself may be fitted with websor partitions so that the flow lines Within the runner itself may bekept sepa-.

rate and discharge into the separate divi-sion of 'the regainer,although such construction is not essential. By the use of multipleregainers substantially -as described and regaining the separateenergies asy outlined above, I obtain a higher speed of the runner thanhas heretofore been obtained for equal conditions of power and head.

My invention also contemplates an additional outer section on theordinary .high speed runner, which in combination with the regainer,will operate at higher peripheral speed vthan has heretofore beenobtained. This result may be secured in ldifferent Ways 'posed above theupper surface of the cone and can be obtained by the use of the regainerin combination with the usual form of draft tube, the regainer beingfit-ted .around and about the outer section of the runner, the usualdraft tube taking the discharge Water from the center portion of therunner. In order to prevent the water ii owing backward into the-runnercausing a loss in efficiency heretofore described, I may add aA valve onthe lower end of the draft tube whereby the water .is automaticallyprevented from flowing back. lSuch valve may be controlled by theoperation of the same actuating mechanism that controls the guide Vanesor may be operated merely by the flow of the Water.

My invention will be more readily underl stood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section. through a turbine andregainer as substituted for a draft tube;

Fig. 2 is a similar View of a somewhat modified construction in whichthe regainer surrounds the usual draft tube, the draft tube beingequipped Vith a flap valve operating automatically by the fiow of water;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line .3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section of a construction somewhatsimilar to that of Fig. 1 except that an additional regainer isernployedand the runner vanes are pron vided with an outer, high speed,eXtension;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 -5 of Fig. a, and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional vier of construction very similar tothat shown in F 1 except in that a wei pro-'vided be tween each of therunner vanos.

Referring more particulariy to the drawings it will he seen that withinthe tari pit I provide an opening over u turbine 10 is mounted. Thistur. ne 'composed of runner venes 11i., the entrance 'of the water tothe vanes beingr controlled by the guide vanes 12, pivoted or moinitedfor adjustment at the top and bottom .in portions of the turbine casing13. The tur-- bine runner is secured 4to a vertical shaft 14, by meansof which the power developed 'is utilized.

The opening in which (the turbine is mounted communicates with a spacethere beneath which space has passages for the Water in its travel tothe tail race. vll/Iounted centrally in the spaces is a cone 15, sup"ported on suitable piers 16, the water passing through the turbine vanestoward the center of the turbine flowing directly downward against vtheupper surface of the conical regainer 15, 'and is. caused to expandlaterally in straight lines down 'the sides of the cone into the space17. Inter- While I` have shown this spacing' as var i ing, it will beunderstood 'that "is is not essential as the ,space niay be u: oruiuIThe upper piu-tion ot the u all iti, is, in the :prese entconstruction, faced `with a sheet steel collar 19, extending to a pointclosely adjacent to the lower edge oil the-runner vanos and at a pointwithin the periphery of the lower edge thereoit. it will be noted thatany Awa ter which. orcedor carried to the outer edge of the turbinevanos and sets up a whirling action upon its release `trom the varieswill be projected outside of the walls 1.8, 19, and into a space 20.,extending bem tween the wall 18, i9, andthe wall 2l, which Wall formsthe door of the. turbine pit. In this case also the spaceY between thewall 18, 19, and the wall :21, is of `varying height i'roln the inner tothe outer edge wl'iereby a space ot incr 'nog area and in creasingvolume is provided.

wise is not consideredabsolutely essential as the space between thewalls .may be of constant heightn The water discl'larged into the space2U expands freely in the increasing area and passes into the space l?,which. space conin'iunicates directly with the tail race throiilfgh a'right angle bend il required.

Referring to the modification shown in Fig. 6, it will. be seen that thesame struc tu e is employed beneath the turbine venes,

the only modification being' in that a web is provided between each ofthe runner vanos, this web extending; nearly vertically downward itslower edge lying in a plane corresponding to the upper edge of the wall15j), whereby the water in the outer periphery oit the. varies selectedand caused to invariably follow the path laid out `tor it; that is, intothe space E20. r Thus ythe possi bility of the` setting up ofconflicting cur-- rents or the combination of particles of water ofdifferent absolute pressures ie avoided.

A smnewhat similar construction carried to a further point is shown inFigsd and 5. In this construction I utilize the central cone 23,correlated wall 2li, 25, rand an additional wall forming an additionalcone regrainer in 'the wall 26, 27. Thus I provide 2Sq Q9, 30, all ofconstantly .increasing area whereby water passing through the turbineinwardly, downwardly and outwardly, is taken oil' and the velocitiestherein contained are regained into prissure witl'iout resultant eddiesor con- .flicting currents. In this construction, as in the constructionof Fig. 6, I have provided connecting Websl, BQ, between the runnervaines and have' provided in addition an outward'extension 32 on each ofthe runner This like-l ,to be secured, that is, one direction of forcein the line of the arrow 3e, one direction. in the line of the arronTand one direction in the line oit the arrow 3d Assuming that the linesol forceare as indicated by the arrows, it will readily be that thecombination of these did'erent" forcee and different velocities in onemass of water will set up a whirl having a high absolute velocity,Therefore the object in this con struction is to segregate thesevelocities and directions o t velocity` delivering them each seperatelywithout the loss of energy ,entailed by the combination of the three.

The construction shown in Fig. l 'I con sider to be particularlyadaptable to tur bines operating under low head Where a high speed isrequired.

In the construction of Figs. 2 and 3, I have applied the ideasheretofore expressed to a construction somewhat similar to 'that atpresent employed; that is.J I niount the 'turbine 37 above a draft tube38 of approved y going to make up the draft tube and by the Wall all,forming a portion of the pit loor. ln 'this instance water passingthrough the runner varies in the direction oi the arrow ft2, will passinto the draft tube 38. Hown ever, the Water which. wouldotherwisefollow the line of the arrow 4:3, will be taken care of in the space 39,and will be allowed to expand freely in the i 'whereby the velocity istransfer, id pressure. Furthermore, under part loads, wherea whirlingactionis set up, thebody of water at the outer edge of the vanes mayassume a bodily spiral Whirl over the cone 39, without conflict Withthe.portion of the water received in the tube 3S. .As hereto foreexplained, it is not uncommon under phrt loads for the Water in thecenter of the tube to be forced upwardly because oit' the whirlingaction of the exterior portion. thereof. To obviate the possibility' ofany such lcurrent n the present construction l providethe Hap valve d4,which may be as Ishown simple valve pivoted at 4o, adapted to swingoutwardly under normal flow but whihhwill seatand prevent any backwardfiowv` which might be induced within the n' 1reasili@ into lao

. over the conc 39 will, after its pressure has kthe scoperoi my claimsl' Y may been regained, pass out through the openings a6, e7.

It will be noted that in this application l have laid ,stress upon theemployment et ineens of selectively distributing portions or" the Waterkat dierent elevations or locations or the runner vanes utilising thekinetic en ergy in such portions of the water, trans forming this energyinto potential energy Without combining these portions in such manner asto cause a loss of energy through conicting and opposing' currents. Thisis especially desirable when running at Apart loads as heretoforedescribed. lt will, however, be found to be of advantage when running atrated loads.

lt will be understood that thev construe tion herein described, althoughparticularly directed to utilization ol the kinetic force in the Whirlof the water is not less effective in the utilization the kinetic energywhen the water flows from the runner Without whirl.

'lt will be understood that the construction herein shown is capable ofother` modifications and such modifications as are Within considerWithin the spirit oil my invention.

.By water rvheel under the present speciiication and claiins, l mean awater Wheel, hydraulic turbine or any hydraulic power producing'apparatus having a runner of such :form to cause the Water to bedischaro'ed. from it preferably yserially to the rotation of the ruimer,and I mean espe cially any l'iydraulic pover apparatus which be usedwith my invention for the accor animent ot' the results claimed. @netyl'ie oit 'Water Wheel. in the meaning of the speciiieation and claimsillustrated in the drawings.

l" claim:

l. ln a device the class .described,tho combination of a Water-Wheelmounted in a Water passage, the space beneath said pas.r saco being-dividei'l into a plurality ol? unobstruct/ed conduits Within 'which'the water may Whirl, the conduits receiving Water from. the Water-wheelat different velocities and causing; said water to be expanded into' aprogressively vincreasing space, whereby pressure is regained fromvelocity, sul stantially as described.

2. ln deviceoiE the class described, the combination oli a water-Wheelmounted in a water passage, .a liared tube registering with saidpassage, said tube being` adapted to receive rater passing through aportion of said water wheel, and an annular radial passage arrangedaround said tube, the walls ot sai-d passage beingvlorined to defleetthe water from axial to substantially radial in a relatively sharp bend-nearthe runner, said last named passage being Leesei adapted to receiveand permit the radial expansion of water discharged through a portion ofsaid Water Wheel runner, substantially as described.

i In a device oi' the class described, the combination of a Water wheeland a plurality of annular concentric passages communicating with thedischarge of the Wheel and receiving Water from diffe-rent portionsthereof, each passage being;` unobstructed to perrnit the vvln'rlinggofthe ufater therein and having'o` component radial to the axis oi therotation of the wheel.

4. In a device oft the class described, the combination of water-Wheelmounted in a water-passage, the space beneath said Water- Wheel beingdivided into a plurality of separated passages, one oisaid passagesbeing disposed to cause substantially radial flow of water, each of saidseparated passages being centrally arranged with reference to saidWater-Wheel whereby water discharged from one portion oit saidwater-wheel is permitted substantially radial expansion in alldirections from said Water-Wheel, substantially as described.

5. ln a device of the class described, the combination of a 'Water-vfieel mounted in a Water passage, said Wheel having; runner vanes, websbetween adjacent vanos, the space at the discharge end of said water'-Wheel being divided. into a plurality of separated rassages, theopenings into said passages registering with those divisions of the-Water-wheel which are formed by said Webs, the outer of said passageshaving an extreme flare whereby Water received .into said passages thewater wheel is permitted substantially radial liow in all directions,substantially as described.

6. In combination, a. water Wheel, a draft tube receiving; 7ater fromthe central portion of seid Water wheel, and Walls providing a passageabout he outer peripheral section oli the water 'Wheel and extendingsubstantially radially therefrom whereby Water received in said uassa'oein a ivliirlinfrr l IJ t may be eEectiv/ely employed to 'increase thesuction action on said runner, substantially as described, i

8. ln combination, Water Wheel includ- -c0ncentric annular sections,Walls `with the divisions ling the flow of Water from ing arrunnier,said runner being divided into adjacent to the discharge from saidrunner, said Walls forming a multiplicity of concentric conedikepassages',.said passages registering in said runner, said pasn sagesbeingr unobstructed and one thereof having an extreme centrifugal forceof' bodily` rotating Water may be effectively employed to increase thesuetiona-ction on saidrunner, substantially as described'.

9. In a deviceof the class described, the combination of a Water Wheel,a plurality of discharge -passages for the Water from said Water Wheel,and a ene-,Way Valve controlone of said passages, substantially asdescribed.

10. In a device 'vof the class describedythe combination of aWaterwheel, a plurality of .Hare land wherein the.

discharge passages therefor, and a llatwaire` controlling the flow ofWater from one .ofl said passages, sald valve being mounted to permitegress of Water ingress ofwater to the thereby, substantially described.

11. Ina device of the' class described, the combination cf a waterwheel, a draft tube axially located with reference an annular passagearound said from and prevent passage controlled draft tube,

said last named passage beinaggy adapted to re-V Lcelve a` portlen ofthe Water discharged from said Water Wheel, and a. valve located'at thetcsaid Wheel.,

discharge froni'saiddraft tube and prevent?.

ing the return fioW of Water'intov substantially as described. 1 l

' WILLIAM M. WHITE,"

Witnesses:

Unas; `F. MURRAY, T. D. BUTLER.

gaia alba

